Medicine Cabinet Checkup

Whether over the counter or prescriptions, medicine purchased for a specific intent should always be kept locked away from young wandering hands, experts advise.

Residues of pharmaceuticals are starting to show up in fish caught near several U.S. wastewater treatment plants, partly as a result of people dumping unused medications down the drain, a preliminary national study shows.

Medicine used to treat high cholesterol, allergies, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder and depression showed up in the fish tissue. The findings, funded by a $150,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, have prompted the EPA to expand similar ongoing research in more than 150 locations.

The fish are put in harm's way due to their constant immersion in water contaminated with the trace chemicals. Meanwhile research suggests a person would have to eat hundreds of thousands of fish dinners to get even a single therapeutic dose.

Exponentially more hazardous, local experts say, is the possibility of children from early elementary school age to well into their teens ingesting medicines that were never meant for them and readily available in the cabinets of their own homes. Such a homegrown incident could prove fatal.

Sue Kukla, program associate for Better Kid Care of Michigan State University Extension of Bay County, warns parents against leaving any medicine within reach of children and not locked up.

Kukla also sounds an alert about several "deadly look-alike" drugs including mouthwash that could poison a child if taken from their original containers and/or left unattended -

• Sudafed looks like a red hot;
• Tums look like Smarties candies; and
• A tumbler of Listerine ("You're supposed to swish and spit," Kukla reminds parents) looks like apple juice in the Original variety and like Kool-Aid in the blue Advanced type.

Once children enter the "independent thinking phase," advises Dr. Richard Nowak, medical director of the Midland Health Department, parents should begin impressing upon them that taking drugs in the medicine cabinet could harm them. Conversations can begin with kids as early as their lower elementary years, at the discretion of parents, Dr. Nowak adds.

"Taking medications is quite an issue," he says. "Children tend to get those medications and use them and parents are not aware that it's happening."

The Community Prescription Support Program (CRxSP) of Saginaw County can help families properly dispose of their expired drugs.

Identifying which drugs are expired is as simple as reading a label and checking for the expiration date.

So says CRxSP director Michael Dunckel. "Refer to the expiration date on the bottle. It's safer not to use them after the expiration date; it's best to get rid of it and start off fresh."

Dunckel encourages those wishing to properly dispose of their expired medications to bring them to the CRxSP office at 401 Holden near the St. Mary's of Michigan hospital in downtown Saginaw.